Former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev and three other members of his family will be tried in absentia for the attempted assassination of a British national.

A Kyrgyz Supreme Court spokesman said on February 14 that Bakiev, his two sons, Marat and Maksim, and his brother Janysh were suspected of masterminding the attempted contract killing of British businessman Sean Daley, who had invested in Kyrgyzstan's gold-mining sector.

Daley was forced to leave Kyrgyzstan after surviving an attack by an unknown gunman in 2006.

Bakiev, who is currently living in Belarus, had to flee Kyrgyzstan along with other members of his family following violent antigovernment protests in 2010.

A year ago, a Bishkek court sentenced Bakiev in absentia to 24 years in prison after convicting him of involvement in a 2009 political assassination.